More than 88,000 Kentuckians participate in early, no excuse voting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than 88,000 Kentuckians participated through Saturday in expanded no excuse necessary, early voting.

This is the first year for the election reform. Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams said it was derived from the pandemic when there was weeks of voting to help with social distancing.

"So we've got the best things I think of 2020, more access to the polls but also enhanced security," Adams said.

Adams said the count for early in-person voting, not including Saturday, was 88,298 people.

Jefferson County Clerk's Office said during no excuse, early voting it had a preliminary count of 8,443 people and the excused in-person absentee voting had a preliminary count of 366. The clerk's office said it had 3,517 absentee ballots requested.

Absentee ballots can't be mailed in late this year, they must be turned in at a drop box by Tuesday at 6 p.m. The only drop box available on Election Day is located at the Jefferson County Election Center at 1000 E. Liberty Street.

Adams said counting ballots late isn't feasible for clerk staff to finalize results in a timely manner.

"We made a temporary suspension in 2020 to allow voters to postmark them by election day, we'd take a week or so if we had to to count them all. We can't do that anymore," he said.

Adams said in non-presidential elections there's typically lower turnout, but stressed the importance of local elections.

"Local races are more important to your life than the presidential race. Just, it's true," he said. "The people that are on the ballot this May for mayor, city council, the legislature, judges, these people actually have way more impact on your life."

Traditional Election Day voting goes from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday. To find polling places, click here.

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